Lies, Waking Nightmares, and a Fugitive
by Zelda
Summary: Duke finds himself haunted by nightmares from his past. And slowly, they're becoming reality...
1. Part One

Disclaimer--- Don't own 'em… Normal Unknown User 3 46 2001-10-06T00:29:00Z 2001-10-06T00:30:00Z 3 2991 17052 DellComputerCorporation 142 34 20941 9.3821 0 6 pt 6 pt 0 

Disclaimer--- Don't own 'em…. yet…

Author's note--- This story is another chapter in my long-running Dragon Chronicles. Not every story in this series will be listed on FF.net, but all of them are listed in chronological writing order on my webpage. If you'd like to find out more about Zelda or other characters that will appear later in this series, visit my website at http://members.fortunecity.com/zeldathedragon and go to the information page. The rest of my stories can be found in the fanfiction section.

Rating- PG 13 for blood, violence, and a little angst that's yet to come!

Lies, Waking Nightmares, and a Fugitive

Written by Zelda (With the original idea from Starrfire!)

                Duke cocked his head and glanced from one corner to the next. The cell was empty! He looked at the ceiling, nothing. He looked at the floor, nothing. How did he do that?

                "How did he do that?" Mallory asked out loud, scratching her head as the Ducks filed into the square room. 

Wildwing walked over to one barred window and looked out. Nothing. 

Klegghorn shoved his way into the room. "Alright, where's the fire?" he asked, pulling his gun.

                "There isn't even any smoke cappie." Nosedive shook his head. "Looks like the bird flew the coop."

                "But he was in a maximum security cell! I had two guards watching him!" Klegghorn reasoned.

                "The secret service couldn't guard Falcone." Duke leaned against the wall and shook his head. "It was only a matter of time before he got out."

                "Well the trail's cold by now." Zelda sniffed around the room. "He's good."

                "Yeah, good and gone." Wildwing shook his head. "It's not comforting to know Falcone's adding to the scum that's running around the streets of Anaheim."

                "At least he doesn't have Draguanus's alliance anymore." Tanya said. "Where's he gonna run to?" 

                "Knowing Falcone, he could hide in broad daylight." Duke said. 

Klegghorn stomped his foot and yanked a walkie-talkie from his belt. He started yapping orders into it as he stormed out of the cell. 

Duke glanced up the wall of cold gray cinder blocks. No, this situation wasn't comforting at all. 

                Drake One was waiting in its usual humming patience as Tanya stepped back into the Ready Room with a sigh. She went over to the steely console and her fingers started racing over the keyboard.

                "Any messages while we were gone?" Wildwing asked over his shoulder, as he and the team sat down.

                "Actually yeah...." Tanya started. "We've got an intruder in the Pond!"

                "What?" Dive asked. The team was on their feet and looking up at the screen.

                "I don't know...." Tanya muttered, rapping away at the keyboard. "I can't pinpoint a location... it just says that an unauthorized person entered the lower level here half an hour ago."

                "I hope this is not another man wanting our autographs." Grin sighed.

                "Okay team, let's get a flank search going." Wildwing ordered. "We'll go in pairs to be safe. Nosedive, you go with Zelda to check out the east wing. Mal and Duke can circle the Rec. Room and Galley. Tanya, Grin and I'll cover everything else. All com lines open." Wildwing ordered.

                "Great." Mallory yawned. "Let's go get this over with."

                Mallory rubbed the back of her neck slowly as she and Duke stalked quietly through the metal corridors. There had been nothing in the Rec. Room. Maybe this 'intruder' had left. The coms had been silent. Mallory was getting sick of this. She looked over at Duke. He seemed pretty alert. They both peered into the Galley itself, the last part of their search. Nothing. "That's it, let's get outta here Duke." Mallory sighed. Suddenly, Duke gasped and looked behind her. Mallory was thrown forcefully forwards as she felt an incredible blow to her upper back. She hit the floor and rolled to the side, feeling splinters of pain rocket up and down her spine.

                "Wildwing!" Duke yelled over his com. "Falcone's in the galley!" 

                "You were a fool to try and catch me Duke." Falcone's voice was the only indicator of his presence. 

Duke drew his sabre, the golden metal gleaming sharply in the darkness. 

"But that won't matter anymore." the bird continued. Duke's cat-like ears picked up the soft pacing of Falcone's feet across the metal floor. "You ruined my plans once, you won't live to ruin them again." Falcone was suddenly gone, running away in full flight. 

Duke turned back to Mallory and helped her off the floor. "You okay Mal?" he asked.

                "Go! Go catch him, I'll be right behind you." she grimaced, standing with her hands braced on her knees. 

Duke couldn't waste any time. Falcone could vanish into thin air if he wasn't watched. Duke took off after him. 

                Zelda galloped up to Mallory as she leaned against a corridor wall.

                "Mallory! What happened? Where's Duke?" she asked, as the rest of the team came filing up quickly. 

                "Falcone's here! Duke went after him." Mallory coughed, holding her back. 

Wildwing raised his arm and checked his AutoTracker. "He's not moving." he said shortly. 

                "I'll get Mallory to the infirmary." Tanya said, slipping Mallory's arm over her shoulders and starting off.

                "Come on team!" Dive yelled, as he was already running in the opposite direction, towards Duke.

                The team skidded to a stop upon entering the Rec. Room. They glanced around with a kind of reserved horror. Mats were wrinkled and slashed, a few pieces of the equipment lay upended. 

Zelda slipped in-between several legs and stood in the light of the doorway, growling. Something moved from within the dimly lit room. 

Grin reached over for the light switch and flicked it sharply. Nothing. He looked up a few inches to see the cord above the electric box in the wall was severed. He looked back to the rest of the team and shook his head. No lights. 

Wildwing squinted into the room. Nosedive stepped up beside him and raised his launcher. 

Zelda sniffed cautiously into the dark, and proceeded forwards. Suddenly she gasped. "Duke?" she asked. There was no response from the dark figure who lay sprawled on the slashed mat a few feet away. 

The team was near her, they could see Duke as well. But Falcone could still be here, waiting to swat their heads off with one swipe of his sword... Wildwing finally let his guard down and activated his Mask. "It's clean." he said. 

Grin squatted next to Duke, Zelda was trying to reawaken the twisted body on the ground. 

                "He's knocked out pretty bad." she sighed. "But I don't see why...."

                "Would this help?" Nosedive asked, picking up a sizable length of lead pipe in his hands and bringing it over to the group. 

Zelda gently turned Duke's head over to reveal a darkening bruise on the side of his skull.

                "Truly malicious intentions." Grin noted soberly. He and Wildwing gently each took one of Duke's shoulders and pulled him off the floor, shuffling off towards the infirmary. 

Nosedive and Zelda found themselves left alone in the darkness.

                "You think bird boy's still got in in for Duke?" Nosedive asked. 

                "I don't see why Falcone didn't kill him." Zelda pondered. "He's got some crazy scheme working, I just hope we're not playing along." 

The two exited, closing the door behind them and sealing the room off in total darkness.

                Gone. The petty fools had completely missed him. He supposed they were too caught up with Duke. Falcone raised himself up from the tunnel and back into the room. He leaned back and replaced the heating grate into the floor. He chuckled lightly to himself as he stood, brushing himself off. The Ducks wouldn't bother looking for him now, he could just walk out as he pleased. The dragon was possibly right, maybe he should have killed Duke there and then. But that wouldn't be very nice and fair, almost like stabbing someone in the back. Duke would pay for delaying his ascent to become the greatest theif in the world. He would pay indeed. Peering around carefully, Falcone slipped out of the Rec. Room with a grin on his face.

                Zelda gingerly regarded the Medicom data as she held the sheet of paper up in her claws. She shook her head and turned back to Duke.

                "So, how is he?" her leader asked.

                "Suprisingly, he's basically just got a bump on the head. If Falcone really hit him with that pipe, the blow wasn't more than glancing." she said. "He should wake up in a while."

                "Well that's a relief." Wildwing nodded. "Tanya, is there still any trace of Falcone in the building?" 

                "Not to Drake One's detection. I still can't imagine how he got past our defenses!" she sighed, swiping a hand back through her hair. As she did this, Duke slowly started to lean up, rubbing his head and squinting.

                "Awake already Dukester?" Nosedive asked with a grin. "Falcone musta really let you off lightly." 

                "Falcone that jerk...." Duke grunted, sitting up. "I'd like to wring his scrawny little neck...."

                "Let us save all neck-wringing for tomorrow." Grin intervened calmly. "I can say we've all had our due of fighting today."

                "I'd agree with that." Mallory said. "Whatever it was." 

She and Grin exchanged joking smiles as the exited, with Nosedive in tow. 

                "You'll be okay Duke?" Wildwing asked.        

                "Hey man, I'm fine." Duke waved it off. 

Nodding approvingly, Wildwing and Tanya slowly walked out as well. 

Zelda trotted beside Duke as he slid to his feet and walked stiffly out of the room, heading towards his bunk. "So, a lovely reunion between you two tonight, I imagine?" Zelda joked.

                "I'll get him back for this one. I still can't understand why he didn't kill me Zel." Duke shook his head. As they approached his bunk, the halls were shadowy and lit with the harshness of the track lighting. It almost seemed too bright for such an hour. 

                "Well who knows what's inside that wacky little head of his." the dragon replied warmly. "Maybe he just wanted to get ya to lose a little sleep." With that, the two waved and parted as Duke's bunk room door slid between them.

                Duke rubbed his eyes as his alarm went off. He sat up slowly, groaning in trying to wake up. He sat for a moment, eyes half open, silently. He wanted to make sure he wasn't walking into another trap. He pinched himself lightly, he was awake. Jeez he hated nightmares. He actually hadn't had one of those in a long time. But it scared him, enough to wake him. Duke slipped quickly out of bed and went into his bathroom, starting to fill the sink with water. He couldn't even remember much about it now, just him falling and falling and falling. He splashed some water on his face to wake him up fully, and then reached into a cabinet to get out his toothbrush.

                Duke yawned as he saw the last of a hard wrist shot dissapear into the vaccum of his captain's glove. 

                "Come on Duke, you can't shoot it harder than that?" Wildwing teased, tossing the puck up into the air and snatching it with his glove again.

                "Yeah sleepyhead, wake up." Zelda chided from the boards, leaning down to thwunk him lightly on the helmet with her tail. 

Duke shifted his helmet back into place as Wildwing tossed the puck to his younger brother.                          Nosedive artfully bounced the puck on the tape of his stick, showing off a skill he'd worked on for a good few weeks now. 

                "Great Dive, just great." Mallory sighed. "Maybe we can hook up a show for you in-between periods next game." 

Nosedive grinned and let the puck drop to his knees, where he started kicking it with his knees and skates as if it were a hacky sack. He smiled from ear to ear as he kept his eyes carefully on the puck. Suddenly, he yelled and fell easily to the ice as Tanya checked him hard in the shoulder. He hit the ice on his back and rolled up quickly as she snatched up the puck.

                "OW!" He snarled. "What was that for?!?"

                "To make sure you don't start fooling around like that during a game!" she grinned. She snapped the puck back towards Wildwing, who caught it again. 

                "I'll agree little Bro, we need less playing around and just more playing." 

Nosedive huffed as the puck came back to him. 

Duke lowered his stick and yawned again.

                "What's the matter Duke? Headache keep you up last night?" Mallory asked.

                "Funny." Duke snorted. "I'm fine." He had the puck passed to him and suddenly found Grin charging up the wing to take it away.

                Duke was exhausted by the end of the day. He yawned as he drew back the light gray comforter of his bunk bed and climbed in. From high up in his little 'perch' he took a tired scan of his dark bunk in, before he gently dug his beak into the pillow and closed his eyes. Suddenly, he was plunged into a world of light, red light. There was a hissing a spitting all around him. Intense heat lapped at his legs and sides. Red and orange light rippled and waved all around him. Fire. He was in a fire. Immediately Duke felt every muscle in his body tense as he realized where he was. He felt the bottom of his stomach drop out, and his heart shoot up into his throat. Fear. He was terrified of the light that flickered and thrashed out at him. He snapped to order as he felt his feet and legs singe. Immediately he looked for some way out, glancing around desperately for some way to escape the approaching flames. Suddenly, something cracked overhead. A huge beam of wood, flames lapping at every uncovered space, came falling down from some invisible ceiling. Duke felt every ounce of the wood coming down on his right arm, felt the pressure it created as his entire body was jerked down. He felt the impact in slow motion as his brown arm was lost beneath the flames and wood as the beam hit the floor with an echoing clatter. The whole world seemed to come to a standstill as he felt the flames lapping at his arm. In a move of sheer instinct, he defied muscular constraints and tore his arm from beneath the flaming beam in a whoosh of sheer adrenaline and terror. He looked up and finally saw relief, a way out. In that space of nothing but hellfire, there was a square black window five feet away. He heard more crackling, he knew in his mind that more beams were coming down on him. More were falling down. He gathered himself and flung out like a bounding rabbit, putting every ounce of energy into reaching out to that window. He felt a wave of freezing cold wash over him from arms to toes as he slowly glided through that window. The fire was gone, he was safe. But slowly, his body started to tilt downwards, giving Duke full time to see gravity come racing up to pull him down again. What was slow motion now snapped into a fast forward. Duke suddenly shot straight down. It was all black, and there was nothing around him to stop him from falling.

                The duck gasped in a long, cold breath as he snapped and sat straight up in bed. Black, it was all black..... the room. Duke blinked as panic started to leave him slowly. His room.... his bunk was all black with the night. Duke breathed out audibly, but it was not a sigh. He looked around him with eyes wide, pupils wide and straining to see in the blackness around him. Duke shivered, and realized that a cold sweat had broken out all over him. He reached down to pull the covers back up around him, when a snarling pain shot up the length of his right arm. Duke drew his breath in quickly and squinted, his whole body freezing. Duke looked down at his arm to see some sort of residue on it..... ash. There was ash along his arm. Duke's eyes widened.

                Duke lay his arm down on the galley table, using his less dexterous one to pick up a cup of coffee. He looked up to see a paper unfolded in front of him. "So what's on the schedule today Wing?" he asked to the paper across the table.

                "Huh?" Nosedive lowered the paper and looked around quickly. 

Duke looked at him with a surprised little grin. "Taking intrest in the news Dive?" he asked. 

The blonde-haired Duck turned the paper around for Duke to see. "Funnies." He explained. 

Duke shook his head and got up with his coffee. He passed Tanya in the hallway as he walked over to the Ready Room. 

                "Morning!" she said cheerfully. "I hear Wing's gonna stick it to the offense in practice today, really make you work." she grinned, slapping him in the shoulder.

                "Ow!" Duke snarled, buckling over with the pain in his arm, nearly spilling his coffee.

                "Oh jeez sorry!" Tanya said quickly. "What happened to your arm Duke?" 

Duke froze for a second. "I lifted a little too much weight with it in the Rec. Room a few days ago. I think I pulled something." he said sadly, an expert at lying.

                "Man... you should get a heat pack for it." Tanya shook her head. "That'll help the blood flow to it faster." She waved goodbye and continued down the hallway. 

Duke looked after her, sighing as she rounded a corner. Why didn't he just tell her the truth? Duke had felt very uneasy about lying ever since he had joined the Resistance, especially to his teammates. But he couldn't tell.... Tanya would think he was nuts! Duke shook his head as he kept walking. He was still trying to figure out things for himself. What on earth would cause him to wake up with his arm all burnt and pulled like that? Dreams couldn't hurt you..... Duke kept pondering this as he sat down on a couch in the Ready Room, to listen to the morning news.

Zelda watched Duke carefully as he crossed the ice, dropping the puck for Dive behind him.                                        Nosedive shook off Tanya's forechecking and sped like lightning up the wing to snatch the puck. Unfortunately, he slammed into a solid wall wearing jersey number 23, and his play came to a halt. Duke tried to muscle in and take the puck back, but quickly broke off from Tanya's defensive grasp, wincing in pain. 

Tanya fetched the puck and snapped it up ice, ending the play for the moment. "Sorry Duke, did I hit your arm again?" she asked quickly.

                "No no, I'm okay." he insisted. 

                "You got a bad arm Duke?" Zelda had latched on to her suspicion, leaning watchfully over the boards overhead. 

                "I'm fine! It's just a little sore!" 

                "A little soreness on the arm of one of our best playmakers? And with the game tomorrow night? Wildwing rested his hands on his padded knees and shook his head. "Get a heat pack for that thing Duke. The sooner the better." 

Duke caught his leader's drift and slid off the ice, exiting into the locker room with a little growl under his breath. 

Zelda trotted at his heels closely. 

Duke quickchanged out of his gear as he walked from the locker room and just down the hall to the infirmary. As he walked in, Zelda jumped ahead of her and leapt up onto the table. 

"Come on," she patted the dull steel surface. "I might as well have a look at it while you're here." 

Duke rolled his eyes and placed his arm gently on the table, wincing as he slowly rolled up his sleeve. 

"Jeez Duke!" Zelda's reaction was immediate as she saw the deep bruising up the Duck's arm. There was also something else: little lines and patches peeked out from all over his arm, colored just slightly lighter than the rest of his skin. "Scars?" she raised her eyebrow.

                "Old ones." Duke said shortly. 

Zelda nodded and didn't further the conversation. "Well." she said simply. "I'll get you a heat pack for it." She walked over to a cabinet on the wall. "How did you hit your arm up like that anyway?" asked, rummaging about inside of it.

                "Fell outta bed last night." Duke said sheepishly. Another lie. 

Zelda turned around with a pack and walked back towards him. "You falling out of bed?" she smiled. "And what about the burns? That arm looks like it got a little torched there. Don't tell me you've been playing with matches now...." she grinned sarcastically.

                "Very funny." Duke started. What about the burns? What could he say? "... I spilled some coffee on my arm this morning... guess I didn't know how bad it hurt." he said. 

                "Poor kid." she scoffed good naturedly, laying the pack on his bare arm and securing it with and ace bandage. 

Duke stood up and smoothed his sleeve back into place. "Thanks Zel, I think I'm gonna watch the rest of practice." he said, walking out. 

Zelda put the wrapper from the heat pack into a garbage chute, and wiped the steel table clean with a sponge, thinking to herself.

                Duke lay in his bed, blinking up at the dark ceiling. He was afraid to sleep. What would happen to him when he closed his eyes? Duke sighed. It was the first thing he'd really been afraid of in a long time. Duke suddenly snapped himself too. So he'd had a freaky experience, so what? Why should he be afraid of sleeping? Duke got angry at himself. So what if he pulled his arm... he might have just hit the wall with it or something. But the ashes..... Duke shook himself again and frowned. He nuzzled his head deeper into the pillow and shut his eyes.

                                                                                To be continued...


	2. Part Two

Disclaimer--- Don't own 'em, don't profit off of them, but I would love to do either Normal Unknown User 2 10 2001-10-06T00:40:00Z 2001-10-06T00:40:00Z 6 3079 17551 DellComputerCorporation 146 35 21553 9.3821 0 6 pt 6 pt 0 

Disclaimer--- Don't own 'em, don't profit off of them, but I would love to do either! 

Author's note--- This story is another chapter in my long-running Dragon Chronicles. Not every story in this series will be listed on FF.net, but all of them are listed in chronological writing order on my webpage. If you'd like to find out more about Zelda or other characters that will appear later in this series, visit my website at http://members.fortunecity.com/zeldathedragon and go to the information page. The rest of my stories can be found in the fanfiction section.

Another note: Starrfire's character isn't mine, she's the esteemed head of the Puckworld Communications webring and mailing list, woohoo! Go to my page to see her profile as well. 

Lies, Waking Nightmares, and a Fugitive part 2

Written by Zelda (With more help from Starr!)

                The bricks were damp and cold. The asphault was damp and cold. It was too dark to see much, but the rancid garbage overun the place. Duke's nostrils cringed from the stench. He felt his way up the brick wall, and looked out across the alley to see another brick wall on the other side. Boxes and rusty old garbage cans lay everywhere. Duke thought he could hear mice scuttling about. Yuck! He wanted outta here. Duke stepped out from the wall, and noticed his feet were much smaller than usual. And he wasn't wearing any shoes. Duke froze as he felt the musty cold against his bare feet. He looked down at his small, skinny arms, his clothing dirtied and torn in places. There was no comforting sabre hanging at his shoulder. He wasn't as tall. Suddenly the harsh screeching of tires resonated through the alleyway. Every muscle in Duke's body seemed to contract at once. That feeling again. This was another nightmare! He crouched down on his stick legs and peeked out from behind a garbage can. He could see a long, black car waiting at the edge of the alley. The passenger doors hinged open, and suddenly two black figures stepped out. They were tall, huge and bulky. They turned to face the alley, and Duke felt their eyes slit through him like lasers. In simeltaneous movement, they stepped towards him. Duke's body shivered. His tiny body was gripped by fear. In a fight-or-flight instinct, Duke shot up, vaulted over the cans, and was gone. He ran, his heart pounding, gasping for breath. He could almost hear the ground shake as the two figures behind him started to run. They were running after him. Duke pounded the ground with his feet, shoving himself farther and father along the wet, filthy ground. The alley closed in tighter around him as he could hear the men getting closer. He could feel their hot breath on his back. Suddenly, Duke slipped in the blackness, and tumbled to the ground. He felt the wet pavement smack him painfully in the chest. He rolled over and over in the muddy blackness as his inertia kept pushing him on. Finally he stopped. Duke opened his eyes. He opened both eyes. He looked to see a wall, another wall, three walls. A dead end. He looked up, lying there in the mud and garbage, to see the two figures looming over him. Their eyes burned red. Lighting clawed through the sky, flashing down to reveal Duke's terrified little face. 

                "No...." he started, struggling for air to supply his aching lungs. "No... I didn't do anything.... leave me alone!" he yelled at them. The two figures reached out for him. He felt a vice grip closing around his neck, another around one of his legs. "Get away from me!" he choked. The figures ignored him. They picked him up and carried him to the end of the alley, back to the black car. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!!!" Duke screamed at them. It made no difference. A third dark figure got out of the driver's seat and opened a passenger door for the two and Duke. The little duck tried with all his might to kick and punch, but his arms and legs seemed to be floating, motionless in the cold, thin air. He could only watch as he was lifted back in the frame of the door, and hurtled through into the car. 

                The minute she entered the Pond, she knew something wasn't right. The Duck rubbed the back of her neck and set her duffel bag on a chair in the Ready Room. Where was everyone?

                "Hey Starr!" The Duck turned to see Mallory entering the room with a towel wrapped around her neck. "Back already? It's only like 9 in the morning!"

                "Are you kidding?" Starrfire said, walking to meet Mallory. "You can never get out of one of Phil's publicity stunts fast enough!" 

                "I'll second that, I can't believe he let you go." Mallory grinned.

                "Who says he let me?" Starr sneered back. "A few explosive pucks can be quite convincing if you use them right...." Mallory burst out in laughter.

                "Didn't know ya had it in ya Starr." she said.

                "Heh. Where is everyone?" she asked.

                "Down in the Rec. Room. Well most of them anyway." Mallory shrugged. "Duke's not out and Nosedive's probably not even up yet." she turned around and started walking. "Why am I not suprised?" she smirked. "Coming?" 

Starrfire shouldered her bag."Sure I'll join you, just lemme put my stuff away." 

                "Sure! Seeya in a few." Mallory waved her hand as she exited. 

Starrfire walked off, and left through another door.

                As she hung up a few dresses that she had taken along on the trip with her, Starr kept shaking her head. She still had that biting feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong. Seeing the others would help. Maybe there was a fight or something while she was gone, maybe someone got hurt. Regaardless, she could feel the lightest twinge of fear in the air. Starrfire wrapped a towel around her neck and picked up a small pair of hand weights, walking out of the room and shutting the light off behind her.

                Zelda stopped running laps around the Rec. Room to wave hello to Starr as she wandered over to the leg lifting bench, next to the workout cycle Tanya was riding at the time. 

                "So Mallory filled us in on your escape Starr." the blonde Duck chuckled, the wheels of the stationary bike whirring and creating a breeze beneath her. 

                "Yeah, pretty slick there girl." Nosedive complimented, swinging freely like a monkey from the chin-up bar on the wall. 

Starr smiled and looked around the room. Grin was juggling weights like beanbag balls near the corner, Wildwing was slamming a punching bag along the wall. Mallory was doing some leg lifts. Starr started to warm herself up with her small hand weights. "So where's Duke?" she asked.

                "He got some nasty bump on the leg." Wildwing huffed, before jabbing a gloved hand into his bag. "Another one on the head too. I dunno how he got that one."

                "And that adding to the bruised up arm he was talking about at practice yesterday?" Zelda jogged, shaking her head. "He's not going to be up to snuff for tonight's game unless he gets some rest."

                "Well that's what he's doing now." Wildwing said. "You checked him out yesterday Zel, what do you think about that arm of his?"

                "Well I think it should hold up if he takes it easy tonight. Still, I don't see how falling out of bed and spilling some coffee could batter up an arm like that." she shook her head again.

                "Falling out of bed?" Tanya asked, slowing her cycling pace. "That's weird... he told me he'd pulled it by lifting too much weight with it. And he never told me it was burned..." she thought for a moment. 

Zelda stopped jogging and stared at her strangely.

"Huh...." Mallory put in. Her tone was rather bland. 

                "Maybe his wound is deeper than he cares eyes to prod." Grin said calmly. 

Zelda nodded thoughtfully and continued to jog. 

Tanya resumed a normal pace again. 

But Starrfire stayed thinking for a moment. 

                Duke saw her coming through the hall and walked to greet her. But he stopped a bit short. He knew of her 'abilites'.... could she sense his nervousness? She didn't seem to, however, as she smiled and approached him.

                "Hey, feeling better?" she asked warmly. 

Duke rubbed his neck and smiled. Could she see the bruise on it? "Yeah I guess so anyway, I hope I can get the go for tonight's game."

                "Well, you know I'm always here just in case." Starr smiled and patted him on the shoulder. 

His good shoulder, Duke noted. She looked down sheepishly and continued on her way, back to her bunk Duke guessed. He knew he couldn't play in the game tonight. He had already discussed that with Wildwing, and his leader had understood. Thank goodness. He needed to get out. He'd wait until tonight. Something was wrong here. Things like this just didn't happen. And Duke had a suspicion as to why. He walked towards the Ready Room, wanting to watch some TV and relax. And suddenly he felt a wave of cold envelop him.

                He looked around the hall. It was cold, way too cold. It was like he'd just walked into the galley freezer. But he was still in the hallway. Suddenly, red little slits of laser fire shot through the room. Duke turned, alarmed, to see Seige running up to him! How on earth did he get in here!?! Duke immediatly used his better hand to yank his sabre from his shoulder, letting the golden metal unsheath itself and gleam in the cold. Seige was very close to him now, grinning. His cold and beady eyes gleamed like those of a bull. One of his shots deflected off of Duke's sword.

                "IT'S TIME TO PUT YOU ON THE SPIT, DUCK!!" 

Seige's voice hurt Duke's ears as it boomed with an unheard of volume. Duke's arms and legs seemed to turn to rubber as the huge orange lizard came charging up to him. Seige seemed to have grown ten feet! 

"Wildwing! We've got Saurians in the building!" he yelled into his com, trying not to panic. 

Suddenly, Seige stopped, and erupted into laughter. High, bloodcurdling laughter. It gripped Duke's stomach. Seige laughed so hard he dropped his laser.  "You idiot....they're not going to help you now!" he pealed. "They're dead. They're all DEAD!" he roared in high victory. He let something drop out of a clenched fist. 

Duke gasped in sheer horror as the Mask, barely recognizable, fell to the floor. It was crushed, sparking and sputtering. And it was covered with blood, from eyes to beak. It was covered with blood and feathers. The next thing Duke saw was Seige reeling around and punching him right in the gut. 

                Warmth. He felt warmth all around him as he gasped and sank to the floor, sliding down from the wall. He thought it was blood. Surely Seige had shot him and he was bleeding to death. Duke reached up for his stomach... but it was whole. He opened his eyes and Seige was nowhere to be found. There was no blood, the warmth was air. The air wasn't cold anymore. Duke blinked. Had that been another nightmare? That was impossible. He had been wide awake! That was impossible. Duke lay there for a moment, trying to calm himself, slow his breathing. Finally, after about a minute, Duke finally decided to stand up. What if someone saw him? He rolled up quickly, and a huge pain ran up through his guts. Duke nearly cried out. The pain faded slowly. The Duck slowly turned up his shirt to see black and blue all over his stomach. This was unreal. Duke sat for a moment, thinking and thinking. This wasn't normal at all. He pondered and pondered how on earth this was happening. 

Then, he knew.

                Starrfire sat tapping drowsily at the computer console. She was so bored. She wondered when, or if, Phil was gonna get back. As she grinned to herself, she heard the door open. She looked over her shoulder to see Duke walking into the room, very stiffly.

                "Hey Starr.... " he said slowly. "I'm going out for a ride... I'll be back in a bit." He sighed a bit and continued out. 

Starr raised her eyebrow. Suddenly, an intense feeling ripped through her. An instant sensation of pain and fear sliced through her mind. Her abilities were telling her something. She looked back to Duke, the door closing behind him. That. He was the cause. Something was desperately wrong with him. She knew it and she knew she had to help him. Starrfire shot out of her chair and ran out of the room.

                Zelda stood up by the little handles in the floor of the Migrator she would hold onto while they were driving. She sniffed the air curiously. 

Wildwing steered gently around a corner. 

                "Man, it's a good thing that they had so much bad weather in Detroit and those loser 'Wings couldn't fly down, I'd HATE to forefit to them." Nosedive sneered, securing his seatbelt. 

                "Tanya, can you get a fix on Duke's Duckcycle?" Wildwing asked, ignoring his brother.

                "It's heading up Cypress, for the highway I'm guessing." she said, tapping at the Omnitool on her wrist. 

                "I just know something's wrong with him..." Starrfire shook her head. 

                "Well I know he's not been himself lately." Zelda shook her head as well.

                "I still don't know why he would lie to us." Mallory hissed from her seat. "If something was wrong, why wouldn't he tell us?"

                "Duke has lived a shadowed past." Grin noted deeply. "Perhaps the memories are too shadowed for his own dignity." 

                "Whatever." Mallory dissmissed. "But if he can't tell us, who can he tell? What if he's in cahoots with Falcone again?" 

                "Falcone's nothing but trouble man." Nosedive turned around to put his two cents in. "I think Duke learned his lesson last time." 

                "Hey." Wildwing broke it up. "Despite the suspicions we've had about him, there's really no reason to doubt him." 

Mallory didn't reply, and sat back in her chair. 

They turned another corner, and drove alongside the freeway. 

"He didn't get on yet, did he Tanya?" Wildwing asked.

                "He's not going to..." Tanya said. "He just passed the ramp. He's stopping or something.... just... underneath the freeway?"

                "Underneath eh.." Zelda shook her head. "The black little stripe that Anaheim wears. It's the worst part of town." 

Indeed, as the Ducks drove down the road in the night, they looked to the side, to see a tall, rusted fence, wreathed with barbed wire. On the other side of the fence, were old and rundown houses, hung with rags and old tarps, forever shadowed beneath the dark strip of the freeway. People still lived there, but it certainly was no 90210. Finding a road leading into the area, Wildwing turned the vehicle again.

                Duke staggered into the alleyway. He had no clue what he was doing, but he knew he had to face what lie beyond him. Somewhere in his head, something was telling him that he needed to be here. He'd find out here. 

                "Well it certainly took you long enough to show up, old friend." a voice hissed good naturedly from within the alley's darkness. "It's not like you to be late." The voice was sneering. 

Duke could picture the beak the voice came from, grinning. He straitened himself against the wall. "Well I'm here." Duke snarled back into the alley. "What the hell do you want?" 

                "Temper temper!" the voice smiled. In the darkness, Duke could clearly see an electric swath of silver metal unsheath itself from the black. The sword's edge danced playfully. "What's the matter old chum? Haven't been getting enough sleep?" 

Duke's sword was out to challenge Falcone's, the golden metal pulsing with light in the black. "You idiot, YOU'VE been doing this to me, haven't you?" Duke raised his voice. 

                "Who else did you expect?" Falcone sneered back. "I wanted a way to humble you, it looks like I did." 

                "So why the secrecy?" Duke shot back at him, pushing away from the wall. "You're still afraid to face me? Afraid I'm going to beat you again eh?"

                "Hardly old chap." Falcone's voice grinned at him again. Duke didn't like this. "This fight takes place my way. And when you go my way, you don't win." 

Suddenly, Duke cried out and dropped to his knees. The brick buildings suddenly sprang higher, sharpening themselves into great black thorns. The Anaheim moon, barely visible between the gnarled spires, suddenly burst into flame. And suddenly he could see. The alley was flooded with some sort of light with no source. He coud see Falcone standing in the corner, his huge sword gleaming like pure light. His eyes were a cold, pitch black. Duke gripped his stomach and leapt to his feet. "Not another nightmare!" he said out loud.

                "Oh yes dear friend." Falcone suddenly started towards the maroon-clad duck. His footsteps seemed to shake the ground. "Another one. Your last one." 

Suddenly, the great beam of light blinded Duke, and he felt and intense pain rip across his shoulder. Duke tumbled to the ground, rolling in the dirt. He looked up, feeling the warmth of blood flow over the lip of the gash. Duke brought up his sword and staggered to his feet. 

Falcone just smiled.

                The falcon grinned from the corner of the alley. This was simply to easy. He saw his aggressor swatting at an imaginary form in the darkness ahead of him, and couldn't help but chuckling to himself. That idiot. He might as well give up now and get it over with without much more pain. Finally he could get his revenge. Puckword only knew how much he wanted it. Falcone stared at him, a sneer emblazoned on his beak. Somewhere far off, there was a screech of tires. The falcon ignored it as he saw his antagonist suddenly fly five feet through the air, landing on his side. The Duck lay for a moment. Falcone held his breath. Duke slowly started to drag himself again. Falcone clicked his teeth and leaned back against the damp bricks. Drat, he was going to be a tough one to kill. But, the falcon thought to himself, as long as he could watch and enjoy.....

                Starrfire was out of the Migrator in a flash. The team ran after her as she darted off into the network of dark streets.

                "Hey girl! Wait up!" Nosedive yelled after her. Starrfire stopped by a corner, gasping for breath. Her eyes darted wildly down the streets. 

                "Whoa whoa Starr, what's wrong?" Mallory was the first to reach her, grabbing her by the shoulder to restrain her as the team caught up. 

                "Something's wrong..." the Duck shook her head. "Something's really wrong. We have to find him."

                "Easily said as done." Wildwing was already analyzing his AutoTracker. "He's in an alley two blocks up from here. Follow me team!" The leader in the golden Mask waved his arm and ran down the street. The rest of the team took off after him, a sudden tenseness and urgency in the humid night air. Wildwing skidded to a stop as he reached the alley. He raised his shield, the armorment giving off a high sound. He peered around to corner as the rest of the team reached him. 

Duke leaned heavily against a far brick wall, panting. 

Wildwing looked harder and saw dark blood staining his outfit in several places. The team charged into the alley. 

                "Hands up street scum!" Mallory barked into the darkness, her launcher at the ready. 

A very familiar chuckling came from deeper down the alley. A silver blade suddenly hovered over Duke's bent back. 

                "Get away from him Falcone!" Zelda roared, recognizing him immediately. 

                "Very well." the bird grinned, backing away ten feet or so. "But that's not going to save him now." 

Suddenly Duke cried out as he was seemingly struck in the back, and fell to the ground, crumpled against the wall. But nothing had touched him!

                "It's in his mind...." Grin muttered. 

                "Starrfire, Zelda, get to Duke now." Wildwing ordered. 

The rest of them turned their guns on Falcone. The bird was sadly outnumbered and outgunned. Still he showed no sign of even breaking a sweat as the Ducks backed him further and further away from Duke. 

                "Whatever you did to him Falcone, you're gonna pay buddy." Nosedive growled. 

                "Well I'll have to give a raincheck old chap." Falcone grinned. "Because the next time I'll see him will be at his funeral!" 

Suddenly the bird was gone! Four Ducks lit up the alley, shooting pucks everywhere. Wildwing barely missed the bird as he caught him slipping over the rooftop, and out of sight. Nosedive was already at the fire escape ladder of the building, ready to go after him. Wildwing lowered his arm and launcher.

                "Let him go... we'll tag that bird later." 

Grin and Mallory were already heading back, and the brothers quickly joined them. Towards the edge of the alley, Starr and Zelda were still huddled over Duke.

                "What happened to him?" Nosedive asked, trying to peer through the crowd. 

No one answered him. 

Zelda was holding Duke by a shoulder, shaking him gently. 

The Duck trembled, twitching in spazms of pain. His eye was closed as if he were simply sleeping, but he kept shaking and rolling. 

                "Can't you get to him Starr?" Zelda asked, panicky and worried. 

Starrfire quickly closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to hone in on Duke. All that would register was intense fear. "Duke, it's us.... you have to wake up Duke... it's all a bad dream, you have to open your eyes...." 

Suddenly the Duck gasped, the eye flying open and the body releasing the last of it's energy in one pent up thrash. Duke nearly sat strait up in the alley. 

                "Whoa whoa easy Duke." Wildwing restrained him gently. "It's us, you're okay now." 

The Duck slowly started to wake up to the pain he felt, and leaned back against the brick. He felt the warm blood oozing over his suit. He was absolutely terrified, hanging in an exhausted limbo between reality and nightmare. But he was so tired. Fear passed from him as he surrendered to his injuries, and closed his eyes.

                                                                                To be continued.....


	3. Part Three

Disclaimer--- Don't own 'em, don't profit off of them, but I would love to do either Normal Unknown User 2 5 2001-10-06T00:45:00Z 2001-10-06T00:45:00Z 3 1434 8175 DellComputerCorporation 68 16 10039 9.3821 0 6 pt 6 pt 0 

Disclaimer--- Don't own 'em, don't profit off of them, but I would love to do either! 

Author's note--- This story is another chapter in my long-running Dragon Chronicles. Not every story in this series will be listed on FF.net, but all of them are listed in chronological writing order on my webpage. If you'd like to find out more about Zelda or other characters that will appear later in this series, visit my website at http://members.fortunecity.com/zeldathedragon and go to the information page. The rest of my stories can be found in the fanfiction section.

Lies, Waking Nightmares, and a Fugitive, PART 3

Written by Zelda (And Starr!)

                Zelda could merely shake her head as she finished bandaging Duke's wounds. "Never seen thin air cut like that." she commented sharply. "When I find Falcone..."

                "Is he as bad as he looks?" Mallory asked.

                "Depends." Zelda sighed. "His cuts haven't bled much really, but he's exausted. If he rests, he should heal well." 

Duke opened his eyes and sighed slowly. "Rest sounds... so nice about now." he muttered. 

                "What happened to you Duke? What attacked you?" Wildwing asked. 

                "It's... a long story." Duke closed his eyes. He looked horribly beat. Bags sagged under his eyes, his hair was matted with dirt and blood. "I was having these nightmares.... bad ones.... I would get hurt in the nightmare, and when I woke up... the injury was there...." He shook his head. "They started happening when I was awake... I had to find out what was going on, but I never did." 

Mallory breathed slowly. So he was lying.... but she had never suspected this to be the root cause! She shook her head in a silent apology. 

                "Take it easy Duke, it's our job to find that out." Zelda was up at the Medicom control panel. The scanning ring began to whirl quietly around Duke's head. "Try to clear your mind and relax Duke, I'm performing a brain hormone scan to see what's up in there." she said. 

There was a silence for a moment. 

                "Anything?" Nosedive asked, his voice echoing a little off of the infirmary walls.

                "Eveything is normal... there's nothing even suspicious here." Zelda rubbed her head. 

                "Then the problem isn't inside Duke's head...?" Starr said strangely, as if she didn't believe it.

                "Wait just a second, I'm getting some weird brain impulses here." Zelda was distracted as she continued scanning, typing at the control panel. 

More silence. 

Duke waited with open eyes. 

"The Medicom is reading foreign electrical impulses in the brain..." Zelda reported.

                "And what does that mean?" Grin asked.

                "I'm scanning..." Zelda shook her head. "Duke. It's coming from your eyepatch..." she said. 

Duke sat up slightly in his bed.

                "That thing is like, a machine, right?" Nosedive asked. 

                "Yeah..." Duke said. 

There was a forboding silence in the room. 

Wildwing felt itchy. Something was really wrong. "Uhh, I think we'd better go out for a bit Zel." he started. 

The others shuffled slowly for the door. They must have sensed it too. 

                "Yeah... I guess everyone should get some sleep." she said, rather emptily. "I'll take care of Duke." 

Wildwing nodded and slipped out quickly. 

Duke slid up slowly and sat on the edge of the bed, wincing as he did so. 

Zelda turned about, tearing a data sheet from the Medicom printer. "Well that eyepatch is gonna have to come off Duke.... I just have to see what's in there." 

Duke blinked a little. Maybe Zelda had a fear of taking it off. Maybe he did too. It had been so long ago... 

"How does that thing work anyway?" he heard the dragon venture.

                "It's not complicated." he started. "You just take off the strap and it sorta slips off." Zelda hesitated. Duke reached behind his head and slipped off the black strap that held the patch in place. The patch itself loosened from the socket, and hung down. 

Zelda saw that it wasn't just a covering for the damaged socket, but was actually electrically wired into it. Three wires of different colors hung down about an inch in length from the eye. 

"These wires attatch to the nerves." Duke explained, trying to speak as if he didn't know what was happening. 

                "So you can still see...." Zelda said in a monotone, handling the device gently. "Not bad..." She looked at the device strangely, tilting it. "Everything seems pretty normal...." she broke off.

                "What is it?" Duke asked. 

Zelda pulled something off of the back of the patch, and turned it over in her palm. "This." She held a small computer chip up for him to see. "This must have been altering the electronic impulses in your brain... Falcone must have planted it there when he knocked you out!" 

Duke dropped it on the ground and crushed the chip with his foot. 

                "Not anymore." he snarled under his breath. 

Zelda was still holding the eyepatch gently, looking at it. She glanced up at Duke, looking at his empty eye. It was gnarled by a jagged, lumpy scar. The wound that must have been inflicted there was deep and painful. It probably had taken out the eyeball. She tried not to grimace, but Duke saw it anyway. 

"I know you probably think I got this in some noble street fight right?" he sighed. 

                "Listen... Duke..." Zelda started. "You don't have to tell me this if you don't want to." 

                "Zelda, all of my life... a lot of things have been secrets... bad secrets. I put my old life behind me... but those secrets still remain. Maybe I need to get rid of some of them." 

Zelda listened sadly. 

"When I was young, like maybe fifteen or sixteen, I was already in the Brotherhood of the Blade." he sighed. "I was doing petty work, rookie stuff. I drew the cops, looked out for police raids, stole little trinkets off the street, took food for the others. I hated it. I wanted to be up on the top of the ranks. I wanted to be the greatest theif of all. I was so young then..." he trailed off. "But anyway... at that time... the cops killed the old boss, a guy by the name of Xercon. He was shot trying to steal this huge diamond... the thing was the hugest thing Puckworld had ever seen. Anyway, the Brotherhood had a kinda policy when the ringleader was picked off. They had everyone go on a theiving spree.... whoever got the most valuable stuff would be the new boss."

                "Kinda like what happens to our kind when a leader dies...." Zelda said thoughtfully. "Not a game for the weak, I suppose?" 

                "Not at all." Duke sighed. "The competition continued on for two or three years... something like that anyway. The Brotherhood was in complete turmoil. Theives were stealing from each other. I had a little hoard myself, I risked my neck everyday keeping it safe. I thought that I had my big chance... I could be the greatest theif... but what I stole was small bread compared to the others. I knew I had to go for something big. So one night I sneaked out... I knew I had to steal the diamond that had killed Xercon..." Duke closed his eyes, letting the memories come back to him. "I remember going into this museum where it was held... in through the roof... inching along the walls. When I finally got the gem exibit, I thought I was home free. I was wrong."

                "Cops?" Zelda asked.

                "Worse. I wasn't the only one after the diamond." Duke blinked slowly. "One of the hottest rivals in the Brotherhood for the new position, was after it too. It was Falcone.... I used to look up to him as a kid. He was so smart, he stole things like it was second nature, you know? But I wanted that diamond.... and I had to fight him for it.....

                "Bad odds?" Zelda asked sadly. 

Duke paused. "I don't remember much about the fight...." he said lowly. "He and I both had swords. It seemed like we fought for hours... I knew it was only minutes though. He had me pretty beat. He was the one who chipped my beak..." He stopped. Zelda looked at his face and saw a grimace on it, as if he felt the pain of the blow all over again. "And I remember I caught him pretty hard across the side of his head.... there was a lot of blood. And he came back at me.... he had lost his sword, but he used something on his hand... I think he must of had spiked knuckles... and hit me in the eye...." He didn't say anything more. He lowered his head to stare at the floor. The room was enveloped in silence. "I got my diamond."

                "And Falcone?"

                "I thought that I had killed him. He was all the cops found. He was still alive though, they took him to a hospital and he escaped a few months later before they could jail him." Duke muttered. "I didn't enjoy that fight one bit. He still haunts me sometimes..... But I got my prize. I became the boss. Nobody believed in me. I had to defeat the greatest thieves in the Brotherhood to earn their trust. They hurt me pretty bad, I was nearly killed sometimes. But none of those fights hurt as much." Duke picked up his patch and put it over his eye.

                "And you've left it behind." Zelda smiled at him proudly. 

Duke frowned. "I dunno Zel, there's no way I can forget the past." 

                "Forgetting it isn't the key." Zelda patted him on the hand. "Accepting it and moving on is the key. Few physical wounds don't heal. Yours are of that kind, but the main importance is the mental wounds. Those never heal. Your memories will haunt you to your grave, as will mine, and as will everyones'."

                "Your comfort is remarkable." Duke snorted sarcastically, standing up. 

                "But the keynote is that you recognize those memories, and you've overcome them. You'll be forever able to control them now. That's when the mental scars dissapear." Zelda was up beside him.

                "Maybe." Duke sighed. He and Zelda walked out of the infirmary, shutting the lights off as the doors closed with a hiss. 

The End

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except me) are copyright and property of Disney. You may copy, print, or whatever with this document, so long as it is not altered and I (Zelda) am credited. Again, a BIG thanks to Starr!


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